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PDAs. The good, the bad, the way – 10 guidelines for engaging on social media
If you're on social media, you need principles that guide your interactions and prevent your on-the-fly reactions. Here are my 10 guidelines for engaging on social media.
Back in the day, PDAs were a bad thing. Then they were a good thing.
PDAs: a bad thing
Growing up in a large youth group in our church, I can remember talks from our youth ministers about PDAs. They meant public displays of affection. In other words, don’t be all over your boyfriend or girlfriend. Practice self control. Be wary of allowing your hormones to lead you. They would often follow up the advice about public displays of affection with, “And of course, we mean private displays of affection too.”
I got it. Three different times in the Bible’s most erotic book, The Song of Solomon, the wisest man on the planet counseled:
“…do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time.” [1]Song of Songs 2:7, 3:5, 8:4 (also known as the Song of Solomon)
Then PDAs became a good thing.
They were a new-fangled invention. The personal data accessory. Think Palm Pilots and later Blackberries, and then.. the iPhone. My favorite phone before iPhones was my Palm Trey 650. It had the fattest antenna ever, and it boasted a slide-in stylus and a touch screen. Fancy schmancy.
A different PDA: This is the way.
Last year, I sat down to identify 10 guidelines for engaging on social media. At the time, I was considering getting back on Twitter and Instagram. [2]You can read about my return at Hello, Twitter. I’m baaack. I wanted to anchor myself in some principles. They are a different sort of PDA. I call them my principled digital approach.
The exercise was fruitful for me personally, and I’d encourage you to think through how you engage with people on social media.
My 10 Principles for Engaging on Social Media
- Magnify who Jesus is
- Laugh
- Inspire
- Draw attention to goodness, beauty, wonder and joy
- Build friendships/connections/network
- Message about Jesus
- Cultivate spiritual curiosity in others
- Display humility and courage
- Engage with cultural issues in a humbly, bold manner
- Research and inform (because I’m an info addict, a reader)… so use my love of input to distill and communicate to others
If you follow me on the Twitter or the Instaface, I’d love to hear your evaluation of how you sense I’m doing there.
It is helpful to be guided by principles in our communications these days. Especially on social media, where it’s tempting to fire back at stupidity or banality in an “inspired” moment (which is really just an infuriated moment).
If you’re on social media, you need principles that guide your interactions and prevent your on-the-fly reactions.
“…whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: ‘This is the way. Walk in it.’” [3]Isaiah 30:21. Did you think it was a quote from The Mandolorian?
I have to remind myself that a post/account that provokes me is a real person. [4]Unless it’s a bot. One quick way to identify whether an account is a bot is to simply look at the account’s profile and a few of its tweets. If all they do is retweet, it’s probably a bot. If … Continue reading
I would not yell or belittle someone in person. It’s cowardice to do so online behind a screen.
This helps me, and yes, there are times I fire off a response, but this "wait to respond" rule seems be the digital sync of James 1:19-20 –
"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness."
— Jeff Noble (@biblebeltman) January 21, 2023
And… #11? Just be slower to respond.
On point. Good social media lesson. Restraint is better than reaction. https://t.co/8Z1ev1IJHs
— Jeff Noble (@biblebeltman) January 3, 2023
Oh. And if you’ll look at #1 and #6 of my principles for digital approach, you’ll discover that I am not going to shy away from a public display of affection for Jesus.
References
| ↑1 | Song of Songs 2:7, 3:5, 8:4 (also known as the Song of Solomon |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | You can read about my return at Hello, Twitter. I’m baaack. |
| ↑3 | Isaiah 30:21. Did you think it was a quote from The Mandolorian? |
| ↑4 | Unless it’s a bot. One quick way to identify whether an account is a bot is to simply look at the account’s profile and a few of its tweets. If all they do is retweet, it’s probably a bot. If it’s a newly-created account, and it’s political, it’s probably a bot. There’s even a handy-dandy Botometer here, where you can enter the account ID, and it will determine its likelihood of being a bot.
Moral of the story? Don’t interact with bots, and don’t let them trigger you. |
[…] PDAs. The good, the bad, the way (Feb 10) If you’re on social media, you need principles that guide your interactions and prevent your on-the-fly reactions. Here are my 10 guidelines for engaging on social media. […]